Jowita Bydlowska on Her Memoir "Unshaming"

What if every relapse was also a moment of hope?

In this episode, we sit down with Jowita Bydlowska, author of the groundbreaking memoir Drunk Mom and her new hybrid memoir, Unshaming. Jowita takes us into the part of the recovery story most books skip: what happens after the happy ending, when relapse returns and shame becomes its own addiction. We talk about why women authors are always asked if their fiction is secretly true, how Drunk Mom began as a novel until an agent asked how much of it was real, and why rigorous honesty gave her more freedom than any secret ever could. Jowita opens up about the lie behind the bike accident that opens Unshaming, rereading her own story through the lens of postpartum, and the ongoing conversations with her teenage son about what she shares. She also reflects on Clifford, the little chihuahua who saw her without judgment, and why recovery is so much more than a medallion. Darkly funny, deeply generous and radically honest, this conversation is a reminder that shame gets smaller the moment we say it out loud.

Share this conversation with someone who has ever confused silence with strength.

"Maybe I’ll leave myself alone now that I’ve given addiction the last thing I valued. Now that I’m free. Would freedom mean I’d stop or I’d just get worse because there was nothing left to lose" - Unshaming, Jowita Bydlowska

Books referenced: Unshaming by Jowita Bydlowska Possessed by Jowita Bydlowska Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska

Connect with Jowita: Instagram: @jowitabot Substack: Unshame

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Xx, Alex

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